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(No Model.)

B. J. DAVIS. BOX.

No. 313,814. Patented Mar. 10., 1885.

llrrn Smarts Farmer tribe.

EDYVARD J. DAVIS, OF ROCHESTER, NEl V YORK.

BOX.

SPECIFICATIOE forming part of Letters- Patent No. 313,814, dated March 10, 1885.

Application filed January 21, 1985.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. DAVIS, of the ity of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a certain w and useful Improvement in Boxes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of the cutters for cutting the grooves in the sidesand the top and bottom of the stuff from which the box is made. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the grooved strip from which the sides and ends of the box are made. Fig. 3 is an edge view of Fig. 2, showing the strip bent into the rectangular form of the box, one end being left open. Fig. 4 is an edge view enlarged, showing the strip with the grooves formed therein, and the cutters which form the grooves. Fig. 5 is a face view of the groove side of the top or the bottom of the box. Fig. 6 is an edge view of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the completed box, the cover being open. Fig. 8 is a crosssection of Fig. 7.

My improvement relates to clgar-boxes and other boxes of very thin stuff, although it is also applicable to other boxes. Cigar-boxes are usually made of thin veneers cut out in pieces with square edges, then fitted in place and secured by nailing or tacking. Owing to the extreme thinness of the stuff, this is a tedious and difficult job, as the edges have to be adjusted very exactly, and the nails are liable to run out one side or the other and split the wood. Such boxes are very expensive and difficult to make and have many imperfections.

The object of my invention is to produce a box in which no nails are used, and in which all the joints are mitered together and united by glue on the inner side and by pasted cloth strips on the outside; and the invention consists in the special construction and arrangement of the box, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings, A shows a rectangular slrip of thin wood, from which the two sides and two ends of the box are made in one piece. This strip is out both longitudinally and transversely with V-shaped grooves a a, the longitudinal ones being at the edges and the transverse ones at intervals from the ends corre- (No model.)

I spending with the length of the sides and ends of the box, as shown in the flat view, Fig. 1. The grooves are out nearly but not quite through the stuff, as shown in the enlarged edge view, Fig. 4:. Theshortand longsections of the strip,forming the ends and sides of the box, are alternated by the grooving, so that when the strip is folded to form the body of the box they will come in the right position.

B is the bottom of the box, and O is the top or cover, which are counterparts. Each consists of a thin rectangular piece of wood of the same area as the box, and having its outer edges beveled off by a half-miter, a, in the same manner as the body of the box, before described. This is shown elearlyin the plan and edge views, Figs. 5 and 6.

The miters in the body portion and top and bottom may be cut by any suitable means. The most convenient arrangement, however, is a series of cutter-heads, D D D, armed with V- shaped cutters b b I), resting removably on a shaft, E, with loose collars Gr GG between the heads, by removing which and substituting others of different lengths, the cutter-heads may be adjusted at different distances apart, according to the work to be done. The stuff is placed on a movable bed-plate below the cutters and fed along, and the \I- shaped groov ing is rapidly done.

To cut the strips A forming the sides of the box, the cutters are arranged at distances apart equal to the width of the strips, and a wide board can then be run through, dividing it into a number of the strips. The board is then turned at right angles and run through crosswise, the cutter-heads having been adjusted on the shaft so as to correspond with the lengths of the sides and ends of the box, as before described. By this means the cutting capacity of the machine is greater than the cutting of a single strip at once, as several strips can be grooved at the same time, thus doing very rapid work. In the same manner the same cutters can be adjusted to cut several tops or bottoms at one operation.

The pieces having been cut out with mitered or beveled edges all around, as above described, the method ofbuilding up the box is as follows: Strips of cloth (2 (Z are pasted across the back of the body portion A, covering the transverse grooves a a, and allowed to dry. The interior of the grooves a a is then glued, and the strip A is then bent around in the square or rectangular form, shown in Fig. 3, and the last joint is glued and pasted, which completes the body of the boX and leaves it in condition to receive the miter-ed top and bottom pieces. It will be seen that the upper and lower edges of the box-body are Initered or beveled inward and downward to receive the top and bottom pieces of the box. The beveled top and bottom are then fitted in these initers of the body, the bottom being glued and nailed fast in place, the top which forms the cover being hinged at the back by pasted cloth strips or otherwise, its front edge being left loose. A smooth and flush surface is left over the whole box. The box thus formed is beveled at all the joints, differing in this respect from ordinary wood boxes, which usually have square and loose joints or are dovetailed together, which cannot well be done in cigar-boxes, which are too thin.

By the method above descrihedviz., making the body of a single strip n'iitered longt tudinally and transversely, pasting the back of the strip over the cross-grooves, then bending the strip around and securing it to form the body, and then fitting in the beveled top and bottom pioces-a complete and perfect box is produced at much less cost than common boxes, and having all the advantages that they have.

In addition to the above, the stuff thus prepared, grooved, and pasted can be shipped in knockdown form, being thusin compact shape, saving greatly in freightage, whereas ordinary cigar-boxes have to be shipped in the completed form, thus occupying much space.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1's

The improved box herein described, consisting of the body portion A, made from a single piece beveled on its edges and grooved crosswise where the bends are made, the pasted strips of cloth at the corners covering thejoints, and the beveled top and bottom pieces, G B, fitting in the beveled edges of the body portion, as herein set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDW'ARD J. DAVIS.

Vitnesses:

' R. F. Oseoon,

P. A. Cos'rrcrr. 

